Captain Slinger was kind enough to have me aboard for a little excursion on the Bay this past Sunday. The action was as hot as the sun. Foolishly I got so caught up in the catching that I failed to apply sun protection or drink even slightly reasonable amounts of water. Although I took a couple of days to recover, I'd do it again [prolly will:roll: ].
Conditions were beautiful for boating but I was skeptical that stripers could be found. As a longtime land bound striper hound, I depend on whitewater, riptides, and lots of exposed rock to point me toward the fish. It was hard to reconcile the mill pond conditions with the stripers I'm used to hunting.
We launched at sunrise from a very nice little park in [i think] Providence. Right away we were into schools of full sized adult pogies. Although no preditors seemed to be bothering them, I was very excited as I have not seen big pogies in years. I'd like to think some of those schools would make it up to Casco Bay for my vacation at the end of June. It has been many years since the big pogies have brought the great fishing of the early 90s to that region. Unfortunately I'm told there are still pogy boat at work in the Bay:mad: .
Anyway, Steve took me on a nice tour of many of his spots, many of which produced the occasional schoolie. Finally we spotted birds and breaks out in the middle of what to me looked like a structurless, currentless, well, mill pond. The stripers didn't seem to care however and we had a couple of hours of running up on schools, catching a few before they sounded, then spotting another school near by. We had a lot of fun, especially after Steve was kind enough to provide me with the correct fly as well as the special retrieve I needed to keep up with his mounting tally.:lildevl:
The fish were chasing silversides and were trapping them against the surface in water that was sometimes as much as 50 feet deep. It was interesting from my land based perspective to hook stripers at the surface and have them run straight down. I had to winch them to the surface like blackfish. There were every size from runts to keepers but the aggressive little ones seemed to get most of the flies. I managed to land one cocktail blue that didn't steal my [Steve's] fly.
It was a great day on the water!

Quentin

05-29-2007 10:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikez

. . . The fish were chasing silversides and were trapping them against the surface in water that was sometimes as much as 50 feet deep. It was interesting from my land based perspective to hook stripers at the surface and have them run straight down. . . .

Nice report! I haven't experienced a good vertical battle on the flyrod yet. Must be very hazardous for the flyrod!

Q

RayStachelek

05-30-2007 01:40 PM

MikeZ,

Slinger is the man!

He's hard core.

Spends more time on the water than he does in his bed.

Heck!.... even more time than work. :hihi:

Slinger

05-30-2007 07:54 PM

I don`t know about that! Lets see, since last Wed when we last were together. I worked Thur, Fri, Sat, Mon, Tues and Wed, with Thur and Fri still to go! Of course the weather`s supposed to turn crappy for my once every 2 months Sat off.

It was a real pleasure to have Mike onboard! It was a far cry from Albies off the WW, but he rose to the occasion and boated a bunch of nice fish. His biggest wish was to catch a fish as big as his newest son, and he came real close, 29"! Guess thats why we haven't heard much from him lately.

It's nice to be called Capt., but I really don't deserve it, I'm just a guy with a boat that likes to fish. Real Capts. have earned that title with a lot of hard work and study and time on the water. I would be an egomaniac if I thought I was in the same league with people that have devoted a lifetime to attain such an honored title.

I think the easy, big numbers fishing is about to end with the fish spreading out and taking up summer residences. Now it will become more about structure and current and matching the hatch. We may see a few more days of wide open surface blitzes but the summer pattern is about to set in. That leaves us plenty of time to fantasize about TUNA!
Slinger

mikez

05-30-2007 10:16 PM

Thanks again Steve.
Your dog days may be just beginning but things haven't even got rolling up here yet.
Big stripers are pushing herring in the Merrimac and Casco Bay has yet to even warm up.
I think you'll hear more from me this season. I've decided to spend more time on the water than I have the last few seasons. I've got to get my casting back into shape and stregthen my leg muscles so I'll be able to remain standing in the bow of that Whaler of your's when the water gets lively.:wink: